First Licensed Nevada Affiliate Jon Friedberg Talks to CAP

We recently spoke with Jon Friedberg, President and CEO of PokerTrip Enterprises, whose sites include All Vegas Poker and Poker Atlas. Last week, Jon became the first affiliate to receive preliminary approval for an interactive service provider license to operate as an affiliate in Nevada’s regulated online poker market. Friedberg is meeting with the Nevada Gaming Commission on September 20 for final approval.

Friedberg was gracious enough to take some time to answer questions about the process of becoming a licensed affiliate in Nevada for CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com.

Did you have any experience advertising in the US market prior to acquiring All Vegas Poker?

Yes. At the last company I ran, Reactrix, we launched a national advertising network in shopping malls and movie theatres across the US.

I also worked as an Advertising Analyst for Petco, the nation’s top US pet supply retailer in my first job out of college. So that was more in the analytical/research side of the business, where as Reactrix was more in the sales side.

But All Vegas Poker and Poker Atlas are your first ventures as a gaming advertiser?

Yes.

Tell us about when you acquired the sites and what your plan was at the time. Did you foresee online poker regulation coming to Nevada?

As a longtime poker player who has spent several years traveling around the country (and world) playing tournaments and cash games, I always felt the need for a centralized resource that provided information on what games and events were happening everywhere.

I was friends with the original creator of AVP, and while he just viewed the site as a hobby surrounding the Vegas poker industry, I envisioned the potential for something similar, but on a much broader scale.

At the time, I never had online poker in mind… I was focused on the brick-and-mortar industry.

My vision and goal was to become the Trip Advisor of the entire poker industry. It was actually an idea that I had been formulating since 2000 when I originally registered the domain “PokerTrip”… the name behind “PokerTrip Enterprises, Inc.”

How and when did you realize you needed to receive an interactive service provider license from Nevada?

I read through the NV Interactive Gaming Regulations back in January, and saw that it was going to be necessary for affiliates to be licensed.

What did you do to prepare for meeting with Nevada regulators in order to receive a license?

I immediately contacted the Gaming Control Board, filed all of the paperwork as quickly as possible (it took several weeks just to complete the paperwork!), and after seven months of company and personal background investigation, I’m pleased to have been given a recommendation for approval by the Gaming Control Board.

Describing the process as thorough would be quite the understatement.

I was asked to provide detailed information about my personal, family, residential, professional, educational, financial, and any criminal background as well as bank statements, tax returns, birth certificate, real estate transactions, business documents, release forms, power of attorney forms, waiver of rights forms, you name it. It was an intensive process (although still not nearly as intensive as that of an online gaming operator applicant!), and for good reason.

Did you hire an attorney to help you with the process?

Yes, a legal counsel was quite necessary.

What can you tell us about the day of the actual licensing hearing with Nevada gaming regulators?

As being the case with any gaming applicant, I was called up to present to the Chairman and Board Members, and Secretary of the NV Gaming Control Board, to introduce myself, my company, and address any questions that they had.

Was there anything about the process that was unexpected at that time?

I was fully aware of the hearing process, and had attended several GCB hearings prior to my own.

What marketing angle are you hoping to take when jumping into the regulated Nevada market?

We will certainly be utilizing our own web and mobile app presence on AllVegasPoker.com and PokerAtlas.com, as well as working with other partners and media outlets.

Have you initiated any relationships yet with operators who anticipate running an online poker room in Nevada?

Yes, we are in dialogue with several companies.

Any final pieces of advice for affiliates hoping to join the fray as a licensed interactive service provider in Nevada?

The advice I would give is to respect the Nevada gaming licensing process and understand why it is necessary to preserve the integrity of the Nevada gaming industry. I am also happy to answer any questions for those who would like to contact me directly at Jon@AllVegasPoker.com, and I welcome any inquiries regarding potential parternship opportunities.

All this means is that its another deal nail in the coffin of freedom. All this means is that the mafia style shake down of individual industries will continue because no one is willing toforgoe the short term to gain in the long term.

Expect license fees, reulation fees, registration fees to start up and double, tripple each year in order to be an “approved” affiliate..

Another nail in internet freedom. Well done friedberg for being the first brown nose, ass kisser.

correct … thanks for speaking same language … i dont care if friedberg wants to do it… i actually dont even think he has a real clue about online poker players ….and about the whole business as he only advertise live casinos and rooms

i would be glad if affiliates would say what this really means … only taking money out of us… we dont need to be licenced !!!!!! or every amzon affiliate needs a licence now too ??????

I can’t wait till gambling in the US gets a little bit more relaxed. People are doing it anyways, but it would be nice to have websites that are fully licensed, so players can feel a bit more comfort when making their deposit. However they need to get it done, get it done! Good luck Friedberg!

How many of us have the resources and the sparkling background to pull this off? Regulation is a bad thing all around, even for affiliates, and especially those who aren’t any near big enough to gain entry to this exclusive country club.

I wonder if they would even consider affiliates from outside the U.S.? Probably not. So even if you do have 6 figures to throw at this, for many of us, that might not even be enough. If you’re just a one man or woman operation, like many of us are, that’s another black mark against you presumably, as you lack the outward dog and pony show they probably are looking for.

Overall, I expect many affiliates are now at least a bit disillusioned. However, those of us, the very few, who see regulation as a scourge are not surprised.

its not even the money, i could get a licence moneywise, but i dont see the meaning of beeing licenced in a state where not enough people living to gain income from this in a way that a licence would be worth

It’s understandable that individual affiliates might be upset at Nevada’s interactive service provider licensing process. Their market is shaping up to be very pro-big gaming. Many of you are right, it’s tough on an individual affiliate to come up with the time and resources to jump through the hoops necessary to be a licensed affiliate.

One thing that may happen as a result of this “big business” approach to affiliate marketing in the regulated market are that smaller affiliates who can’t jump through the regulatory hoops will continue to promote unlicensed, illegal operators thereby sustaining the existing black market in the U.S.

It is, however, worth noting that there appears to be a CPA loophole with the Nevada market such that as long as you’re not an affiliate profiting via revenue share you may not need a license to advertise for the poker rooms. It could turn out that generic banner ads and even CPA agreements need not require affiliates to be licensed.

Ultimately, the idea that websites that simply provide referral links, whether compensated by revenue share or CPA, have to go through a regulatory process at all, let alone one this absurdly strict, demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the market by the regulators, and is extremely discriminatory against smaller operators. I also think that this so called loophole is indeed an oversight, once again showing their lack of knowledge.

So given that the intent is very likely not to stick it to those affiliates who choose a particular form of payment, there’s a definite chance that they may amend this to include other forms of promotion. However, there still may be options for us to become affiliates of affiliates so to speak, where we refer traffic to approved websites, although that’s not the business model most of us anticipated.

Of course, we can still promote the offshore operators, although I would not use the term illegal here, as there really isn’t any law against their doing it, and they are not subject to American laws in the first place.

I also think that when players get a whiff of what the rake is going to look like here, this may provide to be a big boom for offshore poker sites, as the regulated rooms really won’t be able to compete with them. So I remain bullish on the offshore rooms and still remain very skeptical on the regulated ones. We will have to see how it all pans out.